Can’t Buy Me (Self) Love

Think about it.

There is a huge industry out there that profits off marketing a false representation of an ideal physical form for a woman. An industry that relies on women (& men) consistenly feeling unsatisfied with themselves. Fitness gear, gym memberships, diet pills, diet programs, push-up bras, plastic surgery, fucking waist trainers…

Oprahs all like “2016, year of my best body” and even that, my friends, is millions of dollars of marketing wrapped up in one statement.

I’m literally, by society standards, at my worst body, ever. My biggest weight, my deepest love handles, my biggest belly. I gained 10 pounds in January 2015 (because of shingles medication and a bad mocha addiction catching up to me) and I never lost it. I then invested in a gym membership, an iPod, 2 scales (because they don’t make ’em like they used to) some fantastic workout pants, 3 weight-loss apps and $500.00 worth of some delicious cold pressed juice from the farmers market…. And yet. I’m in the same place I was before. Not satisfied. Not skinny. Not sexy. Well, that last one is arguable because sexy is really the attitude not the shape. *wink wink*

I’m all for jobs and the economy and I’m also a big fan of self improvement. And this isn’t to say cold pressed juice doesn’t do a body good, and fasting is a practice that dates back centuries… But this is about the motive… The dollar value invested for physical metamorphosis is alarming compared to the effort put in to value and honor ourselves; mind and body, for now, today.

I mean, we are each put on this planet with a unique shape and form. We are created to be different flowers grown in the same garden. How do we get away from this lame pursuit of something of false expectations. How do we change the tone from an unhealthy desire to be something we are not and will never be, to a healthy pursuit of self-love and self-care?

As usual, I have no answers. I can only commit to myself that self-love cannot be bought. That if I choose to invest in a health program it must be for how it makes me feel, now how I want to look. That it is only hard work that can provide a sense of satisfaction and achievement. And, if I’m not up for the hard work, nothing changes. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t love myself in the meantime.

So wake up, love yourself today. It’s free! Then continue through the day, treating yourself well, whatever that means to you. And at the end of the day, love yourself even more for all the right, healthy choices you made along the way.